Carlos Miller is founder and publisher of Photography is Not a Crime, which began as a one-man blog in 2007 to document his trial after he was arrested for photographing police during a journalistic assignment.
He is also the author of The Citizen Journalist's Photography Handbook, which can be purchased through Amazon.

LAPD kicks cyclist before pouncing on videographer

May 31, 2010

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The problem with many cops is that they are stupid.

How else can you explain a cop deliberately tripping a bicyclist knowing he is being videotaped?

Didn’t the conviction of former NYPD cop Patrick Pogan have any impact at all?

Obviously what happened in this video is that once the cop put his foot out in an attempt to trip a bicyclist during a Critical Mass protest against BP last Friday, they figured they could pounce on the videographer and just confiscate the evidence.

Somehow, the tape ended up on Youtube. And even if it had not, wouldn’t they think that perhaps somebody else might have videotaped the incident?

It should be noted that not all the cops policing the bike ride were assholes.

According to the LAist, between 200 and 1,000 cyclists took part in the protest, which made its way from Los Angeles into Hollywood. The Weho Daily blog reports that “interaction with the LAPD took a turn for the worse in Hollywood … where a few riders were taken down by officers.”

“The vast majority of the police along the way were helpful and accommodating,” a witness told Weho Daily. “But for whatever reason the police in Hollywood were extremely aggressive and were harassing riders for no reason other than to get their kicks (I presume).”

But all it takes is a small group of asshole cops to ruin it for the rest of them.